Author and Davisite Karen Joy Fowler moved to California from Indiana at age 11, and attended both UC Berkeley (B.A., 1972) and UC Davis (M.A., 1974). After raising her two children here in Davis, she decided on her 30th birthday to "try to be a writer," and has achieved no small measure of success.

She has written several collections of short stories as well as four novels. Her sci-fi/fantasy works have been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards, and her latest novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent eight weeks of 2004 in the top ten of the New York Times Best-Seller list. It was made made into a movie that was released in 2007.